Man killed while taking selfie with wild bear in Nabarangpur

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KalingaTV News Network

Nabarangpur: The craze for a selfie turned fatal for a man in the district on Wednesday after a man was mauled to death by a sloth bear while trying to capture that perfect moment with the wild animal near Kujaguda village under Kodinga Forest Range last evening.

The deceased has been identified as Prabhu Bhatra of Papadahandi area.

Prabhu, a driver by profession, took some passengers from Jatabali to Kattamala last afternoon and was returning in his vehicle when the mishap took place. Near a forested area in Kujaguda village the victim made a brief halt and alighted his Mahindra Bolero to attend nature’s call near a pond.

As per the eyewitnesses, while attending the nature’s call Prabhu found a sick sloth bear cooling off on the banks of the pond and tried to click a selfie with the animal. However, the bear pounced on him immediately and started attacking. Despite giving a good fight to the bear, the victim was killed in the attack after few minutes.

The victim’s mutilated body was rescued from the bear after forest officials reached the spot and tranquilized the animal later in the night.

The family members of the deceased have been given an ex-gratia amount of Rs 40,000 by the forest officials for his last rites performance.

“The kin of the victims are entitled to get a sum of Rs 4 lakh as compensation as per the existing government provision. The amount would be issued to them after submission of the necessary documents like legal heir certificate and death certificate of the victim,” said a forest official.

Meanwhile, angry locals have staged a road blockade in the area protesting the incident.

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